pulled the trans again. pulled off that cover plate and the bearings inside SEEM to be ok, but i dont really know how to know for sure. I found a nice little pile of shavings/small chunks of metal. i found pieces of the little plasting ring that came from the output shaft bearing that i already replaced. i'm halfway tempted to slap it all back together again and see if that junk was causing the noise. I dont particularly want to take the case apart again. I'll probably have some pictures in a bit.